Burkini 1, Mikveh 0

Muslim lobbying for religious rights in France has had a certain impact on Jews, who feel that their own, similar requests are being brushed away.

“Things have got worse since more and more Muslims started pushing demands, sometimes with political motives. Now we’re compared to assertive pushy militants and our own requests are denied outright,” said Marc Djebali, vice president of the Jewish community of Sarcelles, a suburb north of Paris. “Now officials tell me: ‘we can’t accept this, this is a secular state’.”

Sarcelles is the home of one of France’s largest and more assertive Jewish communities. In a way it pioneered the controversial trend of French minorities lobbying the secular government for religious rights, known as communautarisme — community activism.

But over the past few years it has been lagging behind the local Muslim community, which has been better able to get its traditions recognised in schools and work places.

“Ten years ago, kosher meals were offered to kids in our neighbourhood school. Today, they can only get halal,” said Mr Djebali. “Principals tell me halal is normal, "natural" even, but kosher is just too comlicated"

"Numbers, it's all about the numbers. The Muslims are not a small minority like us. Their requests are examined seriously," says Djebali.

The feeling that the community was being put at a disadvantage by the Muslim requests became stronger this summer, after comments by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy sparked a public debate over whether the Muslim burka should be banned. Calls to similarly examine Jewish clothing soon followed.

“Jewish men who wear hats and ringlets are just like Muslim women with their burka. They’re proselytising,” said Yves Pras, head of the Europe Secularity organisation. “Maybe this clothing should be banned from all public places, like smoking.”

Although France defines itself as secular and in 2004 its parliament adopted a law banning religious clothing — such as veils and skullcaps — in public schools, Islam has made its way into French tradition and society.

Dozens of schools are now offering halal meals; one school in Paris even offers halal meals exclusively. Meanwhile, a number of pools have arranged separated bathing hours for women, a trend which began in the Jewish community of Strasbourg, and later in Sarcelles, where, for the past 15 years, women have also had a female lifeguard.

In university, students still have to attend exams on Saturdays and holidays. This is a regular sticking point and every year France’s chief rabbi tries to negotiate with universities to find suitable dates.

Muslim holidays are increasingly respected in the office, according to a study by the professional association IMS-Entreprendre.

Ramadan is the first non-Christian holiday to be officially recognised in French companies. Many offices have adjusted their schedules in the afternoons to accommodate tired fasters, and others have set up prayer rooms where fasters can rest. Carmaker Renault was one of the first to reorganise its timetable for Muslim employees.

But IMS-Entreprendre considers other demands, such as leaving early on Friday night, “excessive”.

“Everything depends on the number of people pushing for change,” Dounia Bouzar, the author of What’s Allah’s place at the office?, told the AFP. “If 80 per cent of a company’s employees are Muslim, they’ll be making the rules.”

« Zionists should move to Arizona! »

The first ‘Jerusalem Day’ to be held in Paris was banned by police on Saturday, following alerts on possible altercations and incitement.
Several anti-Israeli groups led by the Islamic Zahra Center were planning a joint rally next to the Eiffel tower to protest against “Zionism and imperialism”.

“We wanted to organise here in France Jerusalem Day, the event that was launched by Khomeini, but Zionist groups and media pressured authorities and police who banned the event at the last minute,” Zahra Center leader Yahia Gouasmi told me.

In a video posted on the organisation’s web site, Gouasmi says “Zionism is evil” and condemns the peace process in the Middle East.

“What right do they have to share Palestine? It’s not negotiable.” He says referring to the Palestinian Authority. “The Zionists won’t get a grain of sand. Let’s liberate our country! [...] Zionists, you still have time to leave. Move to Arizona!"

Palestinian officials in Paris gave no support to the initiative and have taken their distances in the past from various anti-Zionist groups, such as the Euro-Palestine list that ran for the European Parliamentary elections.

Actor and anti-Israeli militant Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, a former member of the Euro-Palestine list, participated in Saturday’s initiative. M’bala M’bala, who used to be the partner of Jewish comedian Eli Semoun, hosted a press conference in his theatre.

Zahra Center leaders stressed they were strongly endorsed by “anti-Zionist rabbis such as Shmiel Modche Borreman from Brussels.”

But police forces were particularly alerted by the presence of an extremist group M.D.I which had been banned by French authorities twice. The faction led by Stellio Capo Chichi, known as ‘Kemi Seba’, has been disbanded in 2006 because of its anti-Semitic actions and incitement. It has since reformed twice using different names. Meanwhile, its members have multiplied.

“The police knows that whenever we participate in a rally there’s action. That’s why they cancelled the protest,” an MDI militant told one of his friends at the location of the rally Saturday.

The MDI (the Movement of those who are Damned by Imperialism) accuses ‘Zionists’ of “being responsible for injustice and imperialism throughout the world”. French courts have ruled that Kemi Seba’s repeated attacks on ‘Zionists’ are ill-disguised incitements against Jews.
Kemi Seba and his militants threatened Jews on various occasions. One such attack in the Jewish quarter of the Marais (central Paris) led to the ban of the group by then-President Jacques Chirac.

Kemi Seba managed to grow stronger ever since. Once the leader of a small, exclusively black faction, he opened doors to other militants and his movement now comprises an ‘African faction’ and an ‘Arab faction’. He also developed contacts with white nationalist groups.
According to Le Monde newspaper, Kemi Seba is lobbying the youth in various suburbs and in Paris’s 19th quarter where ethnic tensions rose in recent months.

Jerusalem Day organisers told me they were planning a major reaction on Wednesday.

Paris welcomes Assad — but Syrian leader snubs Olmert

Syrian leader Bashar Assad was a controversial guest of honour at France’s Bastille Day celebrations — and snubbed his fellow guest, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.


Mr Assad was among more than 40 heads of state at Sunday’s launch of the Union for the Mediterranean, a French initiative to bring together the 27 states of the EU with the Balkans and their Arab neighbours.


His presence in the front row of dignitaries watching the military parade the next day, one seat away from President Nicolas Sarkozy, created unease among opposition leaders, human-rights activists and members of the Jewish community.


French military veterans were also angered because Syria is accused of orchestrating a 1983 attack that killed 58 French troops in Beirut. Several human-rights activists were arrested as they tried to protest.



“Bastille Day is tainted by controversy,” said Socialist leader François Holland.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner himself said last month that he was displeased by Mr Assad’s invitation. Former president Jacques Chirac, who had been a close friend of slain former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri — in whose murder Damascus has been implicated — chose not to attend the parade.


But for Mr Sarkozy, inviting Mr Assad to Paris was not negotiable. “Someone has to take chances,” Mr Sarkozy told a press conference, explaining a U-turn in French policy. He hopes that Syria will turn moderate once it emerges from its isolation, and hopes to launch direct talks between Jerusalem and Damascus.


However, despite weeks of feverish speculation ahead of the summit, there was no handshake between the Syrian and Israeli leaders.


On Bastille Day, Mr Olmert and Mr Assad were filmed on the stage, inches away from each other, but although Mr Olmert looked at Mr Assad, the latter avoided eye contact, let alone a handshake.


A French journalist told Mr Sarkozy at the summit’s press conference that Mr Assad had left the assembly before Mr Olmert’s speech, and that his foreign minister, Walid al-Moualem, left before Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni’s address. Mr Sarkozy said he “hadn’t noticed”, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak responded: “So what? Assad probably had other things to do.”


Overlooking the critics, Mr Sarkozy said his initiative was a great success because of the European and Arab states which participated in the summit alongside Israel. Still, the only practical measures agreed were a handful of projects including taking action against pollution in the region and improving shipping routes.


Mr Sarkozy also announced he will visit Syria during the summer.

Ethnic gangs raise new fear in Paris

By Dana Gloger and Shirli Sitbon in Paris

As the latest young Jewish victim of a violent attack in France woke up from his coma on Monday, debate was reignited on the safety and future of the county’s Jewish community.

Rudy Haddad, 17, was beaten by up to 15 teenagers of African origin in an incident initially described by French authorities as antisemitic. One Arab teen beat Haddad with crutches. Others kicked and jumped on him. None of the suspects have been located yet.

The attack took place in Paris’s multi-ethnic 19th district, which has large Jewish, Arab and black populations.

It comes just three months after Mathieu Roumi, 19, whose father is Jewish, was attacked, held hostage and tortured in the Bagneux suburb of the French capital.

During his ordeal, his captors scrawled “Dirty Jew” on his forehead using correction fluid. Bagneux was also where Ilan Halimi, 23, was kidnapped and tortured two years ago. The telephone salesman had been held captive for three weeks in a crime which both police and Nicolas Sarkozy (then France’s interior minister) described as antisemitic. Mr Halimi died of his injuries shortly after, and the incident sparked fears of surging antisemitism in France, home to around 600,000 Jews.

In the latest incident, Police have revealed that the beating was preceded by gang fights in which two other Jewish teens were injured. According to witnesses questioned by police, Haddad took part in the last scuffle and was caught by his attackers while he was trying to flee the area. Witnesses say he slipped between two cars, while his friends managed to escape. Mr Haddad had been involved in a fight on a previous occasion after a rally for the release of Israeli soldiers Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

Public prosecution opened an investigation on attempted murder charges with an anti-Semitic factor. Chief prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin said investigators have ruled out the isolated attack theory.

Whatever the cause, the incident has provoked renewed debate in France about the safety of the Jewish community, with fears expressed that Saturday’s attack is indicative of a rising tide of antisemitism.

“We issued warnings earlier this month regarding dangerous gangs in this multi-ethnic quarter of Paris,” said Sammy Ghozlan, of the Vigilance Bureau against antisemitism. "The community doesn't understand why the media does not describe the attack as anti-Semitic but as a gang fight."

Even President Sarkozy, who was in Israel this week for a state visit, expressed his concern. Speaking at a dinner in Jerusalem, he said: “I was particularly shocked by what happened to a young Frenchman because he was wearing a kippah. Battling antisemitism concerns all French people, whether they are Jews or not.” He added that antisemitism was “a stain on the tricolour flag”.

Ariel Goldman, head of security for CRIF, the Representative Council for French Jews, said that Jewish people in the country, particularly those in northern Paris, had been left shocked and worried by the attack on Rudy Haddad.“Although everybody has to wait to see what conclusions the police will make, what is evident is that a young Jewish boy wearing a kippah had been attacked and very seriously hurt. People are now very upset and worried.”

One of Mr Haddad’s friends, who did not want to be named, said: “It is very difficult thinking about what happened. We are all very scared. There is violence like this against Jewish people all the time, and it is very hard.”

Most of France’s communal leaders stressed that while Jewish people in the country were safe, and that antisemitism had decreased in recent years, the nature of such attacks had become increasingly violent, leaving people ever more fearful.Serge Cwajgenbaum, of the European Jewish Congress, explained that the past year had seen a decrease in antisemitic incidents overall, but a rise in violent incidents. “It makes people very worried. While people are not necessarily more frightened of walking in the streets, parents are scared to send their children to a Jewish school for example, in case they are attacked.”He added that attacks such as the one on Rudy Haddad created a strong perception of rising antisemitism.

Guy Rosanowitz, who presents a talk show on France’s Jewish radio station Radio J in which callers discuss their concerns and recent events, agreed with Mr Cwajgenbaum.“Previously, when there have been attacks on Jewish people, there was a lot of talk about leaving the country to go to Israel or the US. This time, people aren’t saying this, but they are nervous after what has happened, especially as it’s not the first time that attacks like this have happened in these parts of Paris.” He added: “It generally concerns religious people more, and there has been some discussion of whether it’s best to wear a hat rather than a kippah in public.”

Others, however, claimed that the incident has not caused fear among the Orthodox community. Rabbi Hillel Benhamou, secretary of the Beit Loubavitch Centre in Paris, said: “It has not caused Lubavitch people to be any more worried about walking down the streets in their hats, or religious clothes. People are upset about what’s happened, but they are not scared to walk down the streets.” He added that the community’s main concern was how the incident would affect racial and religious tensions among young people.

Meanwhile, Raphael Haddad, president of the French Union of Jewish Students, said that, given the news that Rudy Haddad had been involved in previous fights, it was no longer clear if Saturday’s attack had been entirely antisemitic in nature.

He rejected suggestions that French Jews felt under threat: “People are not scared. They feel safer than they did two or three years ago.”One of the causes of the problem, according to Raphael Haddad, was that in the 19th district, groups of Jewish and non-Jewish youths “fight in the park every Saturday afternoon”.

France elects chief rabbi in US-style vote

France elected a new chief rabbi on Sunday after a lengthy presidential-style campaign described by one communal figure as “an unprecedented battle between two radically different characters”.

The victor, Chief Rabbi Gilles Bernheim, the 56-year-old rabbi of Paris’s La Victoire Synagogue, beat Chief Rabbi Joseph Haïm Sitruk, 63, who led the French rabbinate for 21 years.

According to communal figures, the election had “turned American”, with a campaign that included video clips on the internet showing the younger rabbi jogging through Paris, comments on social-networking site Facebook, and advertising in the Jewish press. France’s main communal organisation, the Consistoire, responsible for electing the chief rabbi, had never seen such effort and cash invested in an election. One of the 300 members eligible to vote said: “I never got so many phone calls. The chief rabbi [Sitruk] himself left a message on my mobile phone and asked what he could do for me to get my support.”

Rabbi Sitruk was seen as the traditional candidate, “friendly and always ready to tell a joke”, and with a keen interest in business opportunities, such as the launch — during his term of office — of his own kashrut label in competition with the Consistoire label, a move which provoked fierce criticism.

A philosopher and academic, Chief Rabbi Bernheim is widely regarded as an intellectual. However, his supporters say his main quality is his inclusivity. “Bernheim is an open man,” said Jacques Garih, president of the Future of Judaism association. “Let’s face it, 99 per cent of the French are not Jewish, so it’s quite important to have interfaith dialogue. And he’s also open to Jews who are not Orthodox.” He is also expected to resolve the problems facing the Consistoire: “It is going through a tough crisis because Sitruk didn’t take matters in hand and Bernheim presented a serious programme to get the Consistoire back on track and improve its rabbinical school,” said religious and social-studies scientist Martine Cohen. “And Bernheim doesn’t address men exclusively. This is further progress.”

After his victory on Sunday, Rabbi Bernheim told Rabbi Sitruk that “it was time to unite” and offered to “work together”. One of Rabbi Sitruk’s students shed a tear. And as one voter told the JC, “the election was some show”.

Sarkozy gets cosy with Assad

Jewish institutions and opposition parties have criticised the welcome extended by French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy to Syrian leader Bashar Assad to the summit launching the Med Union on July 13 and to the next day’s Bastille Day celebrations.

“It is not the invitation to the summit itself we are criticising, but the honours given to Assad the next day when he’ll be the nation’s guest at the presidential tribune for the national celebration,” a spokesman for the Jewish umbrella body CRIF told the JC.

But the invitation is seen by others as an opportunity to push negotiations with Syria further after Jerusalem and Damascus revealed their own indirect talks.

Paris has sent two emissaries to Damascus, among them Jean-David Lavitte, France’s former ambassador to the US.

“If the Israelis are talking to the Syrians… let’s not be too smart about things, I think it’s important to talk to people on opposite sides,” said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.

“If Sarkozy obtained information about developments and a change in the Syrian approach, then there could be a breakthrough,” political analyst Raphael Drai told the JC.

“But this diplomatic effort will be very complex and difficult to push through.

“There are in fact three negotiations in one: there’s the Israeli-Syrian process, the Lebanon issue, and the attempt to draw Syria away from Iran. Syrians argue that if they accept western demands and move away from Iran, they should at least get in return major advantages in Lebanon and land restitution from Israel in the Golan.”

According to Reuters, Israeli officials said Jerusalem was trying to set up a meeting between Mr Assad and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who will participate in the same events on July 13-14. The Israeli embassy in France told the JC it did not wish to comment on the media reports and that it was currently focusing on Mr Sarkozy’s own trip to Jerusalem, due to take place in a few days.

The diary that could explain Vichy to the French

French newspapers have praised as exceptional and “literary event of the new year” the diary of Helene Berr, which was published last week, 62 years after her death in the Bergen-Belsen death camp.

Life appeared very promising for Helene Berr at 21. From a wealthy Parisian family, she was an excellent student, a talented violinist, and engaged to be married to a man she loved.

Then came the Nazi occupation of Paris. The resulting destruction of Jewish life, suffering and discrimination was meticulously recorded in a diary Berr kept from 1942 until her deportation to — and eventual death at — Bergen-Belsen in 1944.

The publication of this diary, which the media have compared to that of Dutch teenager Anne Frank, has stunned the French public.

“With this diary, we seem to understand for the first time the horror and absurdity Jews had to face every day in occupied Paris,” wrote the Liberation newspaper.

Berr, whose father was a successful businessman, was a bright English student whose ambition was to teach, until the law banned Jews from becoming professors.

Berr lucidly describes the chain of downfalls and discrimination she experienced, the yellow star of David she was forced to wear, the stares of the “non-Jewish” French, those who felt sorry for her and those who blocked her from entering the underground trains or the garden she wanted to linger in with her fiancé Jean Morawiercki.

Six months after they met, Morawiercki enrolled in the Free French Forces, leaving Berr in Paris, where she devoted herself to helping other victims. Working with orphan children who had no chance of survival, Berr described the toddlers’ pathetic situation, their sickness and lonely lives.

She recounted how one boy, Bernard, whose mother and sister were deported, told her: “I’m certain they won’t come back alive.”

Berr’s last words in the journal, before her deportation, were: “Horror, horror, horror!” She died in Bergen-Belsen, beaten to death, according to some witnesses, or from typhus, according to others. Only days later, the US Army liberated the camp.

Berr wrote she needed to transcribe her feelings and thoughts so that her fiancé Jean Morawiercki would know everything she went through, and the document was kept in her family until her niece, Mariette Job, decided it was too important to remain private.

She launched steady efforts to get her family’s approval and have the diary exhibited. Her efforts lead to a fist exhibit of Berr’s story at the Shoah memorial in 2002 and to the publication of Berr’s diary today, at last.